Musings, dreams, thoughtcrimes.

Marco Rubio: The Obama of the right?

Whatever you think about Obama — and he is not very popular these days — the fact remains that he is one of the most talented politicians of our age. At his best, he gives a heck of a speech, he is undoubtedly intelligent and thoughtful, and while I disagree with most of his policies, he did inspire a lot of hope and passion during his amazing — and succesful — campaign for the Presidency two years ago.

When I see Marco Rubio, I see the same qualities that Obama has — charisma, charm, a great personal story, and an excellent speaker. He is the star of this mid-term election. He will be a senator in 5 days. And I believe he will become President within the next ten years. Mark my words.

There right there is what I don’t agree with; his statement that he wants the rest of the world to be like America and not the other way around. I think this is what has constantly gotten this country into trouble for the last fifty years, this relentless urge to shape the world in America’s image in one way or another. Every President since the end of WW2 has fallen for it, and it seems Rubio will too. Or maybe this is just rhetoric and he will actually be different. Let’s see.

gnarlyoak — That’s a good point about Rubio only having done politics. But what I am not sure of if whether this is necessarily a bad thing. There have been good politicians of every ideological hue who have been in politics for most of their life, just as there have been bad ones who came into politics from another profession. Maybe a more detailed study is needed on this topic, I am not ready to just trust intuition on this issue.

Ashutosh– I agree. On the one hand, there are a few aspects of US that are pretty unique and that I think are actually better than the rest of the world. However most pols and people who have this sort of belief actually don’t know that much about the world, which is a sense invalidates this belief. In any case, I certainly agree that trying to shape the rest of the world in a particular way by another nation does not work, whether it is for good or bad.
As for Rubio, there’s a lot in his agenda I don’t support, and while I’d be far happier with him in the Presidency than say, Palin or DeMint, my post wasn’t in any way an endorsement, merely an observation of his obvious political skill.